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Monday, 20 January 2014

We are upgrading!

For those of you who've visited Kynance Cove in
the last few years you may have noticed recently that the toilet block and car
park huts are looking a little worn out and in need of updating so we've put
together a new plan for those buildings.

How the car park looked back in the 80s

Kynance car park was acquired by the Trust back
in the 1980s and originally there were several buildings onsite in the car park
area including a hotel. These buildings were later demolished as the National
Trust concentrated on improving the landscape, the damage that erosion had
caused around the upper areas of the car park and improving the visitor access
to the beach.

The Ex-Council toilet block

These days if you visit
there's very little in the landscape at Kynance aside from the two car park
huts and the old council toilet block. The Trust took on ownership and
responsibility for the toilet block back in 2005 and since then we've worked
hard to try and maintain them, however we'd like to be able to provide our
visitors with better facilities.

Working alongside a
local design firm, Boex of Porthleven we've come up with a solution. We aim to
use recycled shipping containers to replace these buildings this year and
provide new up to date toilet facilities and visitor information. The
containers are designed to be entirely transportable units which can be lifted
off site at the end of the tourist season to leave the car park landscape
completely building free.

How the new visitor reception could look

The aim is to utilise two 20ft containers that will sit in the position of the current facilities and huts. The project has been recently dubbed “Kybox” and
is being led by Visitor Services and Enterprises Manager Layla Astley. “We were
looking for a solution that would enable us to move buildings out of the car
park each year and relieve the pressure on the landscape, the idea came when I
was looking out to sea one day and realised how many cargo ships use the Lizard
as an important landmark, it just seemed to fit perfectly.”

How the new toilet block could look

Sam from Boex says “Working
closely with the National Trust on the Kybox project has been a
fascinating design journey, the project itself is going to be an exciting forward
thinking challenge due to the environmental sensitivity of the area and the
fact the facilities will be portable. The key for us is to create
facilities that will be iconic to Kynance Cove but sit sensitively within the
landscape.”

The units that have been designed locally will also be fabricated in the Lizard area, using locally sourced materials where
possible and combining this with the latest technology for renewable energy.

If you'd like more information about the project please get in touch with us here at the office you can email or call us on 01326 561407.

7 comments:

As an artist and local Mullion resident who frequently visits Kynance I must express my utter dismay at the ghastly external visual appearance of the proposed new toilet block and visitor facility. They may be recycled and portable but they could hardly be less fitting in this beautiful natural environment. They look exactly what they are…cheap and nasty metal containers wrapped in packing cases!

Iconic and sensitive? No, a trendy and impoverished indulgence on the part of the designer/s...and an ugly blot on the Kynance landscape at any time of year!

They do look pretty awful. The timber will weather in time, but the metal parts are inappropriate. On the matter of access to the beach, I was there earlier today and a lot of those nice flat rocks that made it easy to get from the steps down to the beach have been shifted by the recent heavy seas - I hope they get replaced or the less mobile may find it tricky.

We are currently working through the long list we have of storm damage and access to the beach is high up on the agenda. We will hopefully, weather permitting, be trying to restore this access before Easter. Thanks for your comments.

This design looks like something that might be found in a Supermarket Car Park! Surely the National Trust can come up with something better than this?As local residents, we know that Kynance is very popular all through the winter months, and rather than remove the toilets in winter, it would be better if they were left open all year - although if this tasteless design is implemented, it might be preferable if they were removed altogether!

We take on board your concerns. The timbers surrounding the buildings will weather in time and won't look too dissimilar to what is currently existing in the car parks but will be much easier to maintain. As a nature conservation charity we have been working hard on this project to ensure we are continuing to provide public amenities that fit within the local landscape.

Unfortunately that monstrosity will never fit within the local landscape...it could hardly be less sympathetic! Why not simply update the present amenity until such time as the Trust can afford something better?

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Welcome to The Lizard and Penrose National Trust Blog!
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